Bullying and Harassment Policy (July 04)

Harassment is a serious issue which can affect people's health, work performances, promotion, job prospects and learning and achievement. The Service is committed to eliminating all forms of intimidation, harassment or bullying.

This applies to harassment and bullying on the grounds of gender, race, ethnic origin, disability, age, nationality, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, belief, marital status, social or any other characteristic. The policy should be read in conjunction with the service Equality and Diversity Policy and Race Equality Policy.

Definitions

Harassment is described as unwanted conduct that affects the dignity of women or men in their place of work or study; it encompasses unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal behaviour that denigrates, ridicules, excludes or intimidates.

Sexual harassment is defined by the European Union (EU) as "when any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature occurs with the purposes or effect of violating the dignity of a person, in particular when creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment."

Bullying is the intimidation or belittling of someone through the misuse of power or position, that leaves the recipient feeling hurt, upset, vulnerable, isolated or helpless.

Racial harassment is any unwelcome or hostile act or series of acts carried out by a person wholly or partly because of the racial origin of the recipient or which is perceived by the recipient to be racially offensive.

Disability harassment is unwanted conduct based on disability affecting the dignity of men and women in their place of work or study.

Harassment or bullying may include:

• Physical - actual assault, threatening gesture or other aggressive or offensive behaviour
• Verbal - spoken, textual or pictorial words or images which are threatening, defamatory, humiliating, abusive, sexually suggestive or racially offensive, including malicious gossip, comment, jokes or banter
• Non-verbal - isolation, exclusion or segregation; abuse of power, removal of responsibility, behaviour which undermines confidence or unfair sanctions

Harassment may be repetitive or an isolated occurrence against one or more individuals.

It is not the intention of the harasser but the conduct itself and its impact on the recipient which constitutes harassment.

Accountability

The service Equality and Diversity Steering Group is responsible for ensuring that all zones apply the procedure for taking action in the event of an incident of bullying or harassment.

Zone management teams must endorse and actively support the policy, and are responsible for:

• Ensuring that all allegations of harassment or bullying, received either informally or formally, are dealt with promptly, sensitively fairly, objectively, confidentially and seriously, through an established procedure
• Ensuring that training to support this policy is made available to all staff as part of the induction process and through Professional Development programmes
• Ensuring that the policy is widely published and its contents made known to all staff, students, contractors and visitors